Exploring the collections, acquisitions, and treasures of the Forest History Society

Archive for April, 2010

The latest issue of Forest History Today is now available online! Feature articles include two pieces on the Bitterroot National Forest controversy in the 1960s, one by Fred Swanson on G.M. Brandborg, who started the controversy, and another by Lou Romero, who worked there at the time; a look at the first half-century of the Australian Forestry School by John Dargavel; and a history of the creation of sustained-yield forestry by the Weyerhaeuser Company by forester Ted Nelson. Other articles include Walter Cook discussing how he came to translate the classic German-language work Forest Aesthetics and an essay by James Skillen on what issues the next public land commission might consider.

The issue has two photo essays. Chris Worrell revisits the topic of arborglyphs to discuss how the field has expanded, and Thomas Dunlap shows how the birdwatching field guide evolved prior to Roger Tory Peterson’s game-changing entry into the marketplace. From New Zealand comes Robin Hodge’s biographical portrait of conservationist Pérrine Moncreiff, a woman ahead of her time. Timberline Lodge on the Mount Hood National Forest (Oregon) is the subject of our “History on the Road” article by the Mad B-logger himself.

Faithful blog readers will be interested to learn that the new issue contains the results of our online Social Media ad contest. We suggest that you look back over the choices before looking to see which was the winner. The winning ad can be found at the end of the Weyerhaeuser article on page 30.

The front cover of the 2009 edition of Forest History Today makes history in its own right.

Longtime readers of Forest History Today will notice that, for the first time, the images on the front cover and back cover do not appear inside the magazine. We opted to use the cover to highlight the William B. Laughead collection in our archives. You can learn more about the collection from the blog here and here.

Appropriate for both middle school and high school, we have the film The Greatest Good, a history of conservation and the U.S. Forest Service. It’s a three-disc set with lots of bonus features, and we have a Teacher’s Guide for it at: http://www.foresthistory.org/Education/TGG/Index.htm.

Looking for something for the whole family? We have a few public service announcements (PSAs) about Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl, and Junior Raindrop on our YouTube channel. They are quite entertaining and parents might even remember some of them. Folks of a certain vintage may want to check out this PSA from Kukla and Ollie: